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Turns out masterminding a gift to New York energy billionaire and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula of $850 million in taxpayer cash to fund a spankin’ new stadium was not Gov. Kathy Hochul’s best idea.
Since the handout, the team’s value has skyrocketed.
It was worth $3.4 billion at the time of the 2022 giveaway, but has since climbed to $5.8 billion.
After an NFL rule change letting private equity buy stakes in teams, Pegula has sold two 10% chunks of the Bills: one to Arctos Partners, another to a consortium led by NBA legend Vince Carter (a dunkmaster now posterizing the New York taxpayer).
For those keeping score at home, that’s $1.16 billion to Pegula.
Who could have seen this coming?
A state government makes a deal handing public monies to a sharp-eyed, mega-successful businessman who then turns around and leverages the handout to line his pockets.
Oh, wait: Only anyone capable of basic reasoning.
Yes, it’s not quite as crooked as the Charlie Tebele affair.
Remember him? He’s the COVID-test baron whose family donated nearly $300,000 to Hochul’s war chest; Tebele’s firm then got a crooked contract that did almost equal fiscal harm to the Empire State.
Though Pegula did donate to the Cuomo-Hochul campaign in 2014, this move looks more like Hochul simply caving — as she caves on issues big and small, from crime to congestion pricing — because Pegula threw a tactical temper tantrum and threatened to pull up stakes.
(And maybe, as a Buffalonian herself, letting hometown boosterism get the better of her. She insists her husband’s work for the Bills’ concessionaire had nothing to do with it.)
Whatever the cause, the result is the same as all of her policies:
More pain for the already hurting average Empire Stater and more joy for the connected fat cats.